Discover How To Exfoliate Your Way To Better Skin!

If you spend any time following celebrities, watching the news or reading magazines, the talking heads all agree that it’s one of the most important steps to beautiful skin.

And for good reason…

Dermatologists and skin care experts now know that exfoliation is one of THE most important things you can do to quickly get younger, fresher looking skin.

To understand why, you have to know that the skin constantly refreshes itself by producing new cells and sloughing off dead ones.

This process works great when we’re young, but slows as we age.

If these dead cells remain on our skin and start to build up, your skin will look dull and lifeless, regardless of your age.

However, if you exfoliate regularly, you can remove this “dead” layer of skin cells and stimulate your body to produce newer, healthier cells.

The end result is much, much better looking skin! (Who doesn’t want that?)

So now that you know exfoliation is essential to your skin care routine, how do you go about choosing the right exfoliator?

I mean, there are literally hundreds of different lotions, serums, scrubs, peels, powders, masks, microdermabrasion kits and polishers out there. And they all work in different ways with different ingredients.

How can you possibly know which exfoliator is the best for your skin?

Well you’re in luck!

Our community of skin care experts have taken the time to rank, review and test just about every exfoliator we can get our hands on.

We try out the big brands you hear about all the time and also the up-and-comers that you may not even know exist…

And every time we test one, we’ll report back here how well it works, how much it costs, what ingredients it has, where you can buy it and everything else you need to know to make an informed decision.

Once you’ve found an exfoliator that sounds perfect for you, we’ve got tons of helpful articles and videos showing you the best ways to use it.

So keep reading if you want to learn more about the benefits of exfoliating… or go straight to our list of the best exfoliators.

What Is Exfoliation And Why Does Every Beauty Expert and Celebrity Recommend It?

So now that you know that regular exfoliation is the key to smoother, brighter-looking skin, you’re probably wondering what exactly exfoliation is and how it works.

Simply put, exfoliation is the process of removing dead skin cells from the outermost layer of your skin (called the epidermis for all you science nerds).

If you leave these dead skin cells alone, they begin to pile up unevenly– and cause skin to look dull, rough and dry.

When you exfoliate, you’re basically signaling to your skin that it’s time to start producing new skin cells.

Dr. Fredric Brandt, cosmetic dermatologist for Madonna, Stephanie Seymour and Kelly Ripa, has this to say, “Regular exfoliation is an important step in maintaining a healthy glow. Without it, skin can appear blotchy and dull”.

And Kate Somerville, known as the A-List Beauty Guru, says, “Getting rid of the dead layer when it’s ready and turning over those skin cells is crucial for a brighter complexion”.

By now you should have a pretty good idea that exfoliation may be THE most important thing you can do to maintain radiant skin.

But to really nail down the idea, take a look at the full spectrum of things regular exfoliation can do for your skin (and your life!)…

The Top 10 Anti-Aging Benefits of Exfoliation

By exfoliating at home on a regular basis, your skin will begin to experience some truly amazing “anti-aging” benefits.

In fact, it’s not unusual for people to experience a complete transformation after just a few weeks of exfoliating! And the best part is, it only takes 10-15 minutes a week.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 benefits of regular exfoliation:

These work well in body scrubs because they’re are “jagged” and “rough” and tend to do a better job of removing the tougher (and thicker) layer of dead skin cells on the body.

Conversely, these ingredients are too harsh and too sharp to be used on the face. That’s where you want to stick to more gentle exfoliation ingredients such as microbeads and smooth jojoba seeds.

So are body scrubs a good idea?

Absolutely. Finding one you like can make a BIG difference in how our skin looks and feels :)

Now that we’ve covered face and body exfoliation, what about lip exfoliators?

How Often Should I Exfoliate?

Once people realize how great exfoliation is for their skin, the next question we always get is, “how often should I exfoliate”?

As we alluded earlier, that really depends on a number of factors like the type of skin you have, how old you are, how much makeup you wear, how much sun you get, etc, etc.

The best way to figure out how often to exfoliate is really to experiment.

Keep in mind also that sometimes it takes time for your skin to adjust– especially if you’re new to exfoliation.

Some people experience tremendous results by doing gentle exfoliation every day before going to bed. Celebrity dermatologist Dr. Lancer is a big fan of this method.

Other people like to exfoliate a little more stringently 2 or 3 times a week. This is the preferred method of Kate Somerville.

Still others like to mix the two up. Preferring to gently exfoliate every day and then using something a little stronger once or twice a week. This is what the famous cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Brandt suggests (chemical + mechanical exfoliation).

The best way to figure out the optimal schedule for you is to start by exfoliating just once a week. And then observing how your skin reacts.

If it’s red and flaky, then wait awhile before exfoliating again.

If your skin tolerates it well, then perhaps try every other day.

After awhile, you’ll figure out exactly what your skin needs to be at its most beautiful!

For more, check out our detailed instructions on how to exfoliate.

Will Exfoliation Make My Skin Red and Irritated?

If you do it right, exfoliation should not result in too much redness or irritation. Especially after you’ve tried it a few times and have found a product that works well for your particular skin.

That said, it could take some time for your skin to adjust– even to the most gentle methods in some cases.

But after this adjustment period, your skin should not get too red or irritated. That’s a sign that you may want to consider a more gentle product for treatment (or reduce the frequency of when you exfoliate).

Severe redness and irritation sometimes occurs with professional microdermabrasion treatments and chemical peels.

Many dermatologists consider these treatments unnecessarily intense. Kate Somerville, for one, advises her clients to stay away from microdermabrasion .

In her book Complexion Perfection, she says, “The crystals inflict physical injury on your skin, which is just not made to take such a beating. The vacuuming can also break capillaries on the surface of the skin, creating redness or even pigmentation from the injury”.

The trick to successful exfoliation is to create a “controlled injury” to the epidermis, which signals to the lower layer of your skin that new cells are needed.

This can be easily be accomplished by using gentler, at-home treatments versus some of the more heavy-duty (and expensive) procedures you can find in some doctor’s offices.

That’s not to say that there’s necessarily anything wrong with these treatments– you just have to be careful about who’s doing them